As some of you know, I’m running this site through with the Hugo site generator. Hugo has many advantages, but one big disadvantage is that to update my site it takes a lot of steps:

Write the markdown code

Generate the site through hugo

Commit the site to github

Connect to Gandi simple hosting through sftp and replace all files because all files are seen as new

Check permissions after upload

Although only 5 steps this usually takes around 20 minutes to complete.

Earlier this evening I stumbled upon a blogpost on Gandi cookbook about auto deploy sites through git on gandi simple hosting. I followed their tutorial and added an extra bash script so that now all it takes me is 1 command and a commit message.

To make sure that the info doesn’t get lost and for those having using hugo, unix and gandi simple hosting all combined, these are the steps necessary:

Bash script for automating hugo generation and git commit + push

First let’s make a bash script to automate the hugo build and the git commit and push.

We are using the ability of hugo to have a deploy directory specified, this is because I have my source code also in a git repository and I want my dev code separate from my live code.

create a file in your home dir on your local system. And paste the following code, change the file paths off course.

Now make a dir ~/bin if it doesn’t already exists and copy the script to that directory.

After a reboot or after manually adding the ~/bin path to your ~/.profile you should be able to run the script from everywhere on your system as yourself, however not as root, sudo or another user.

Auto deploy github to simple hosting

Create a simple hosting instance, I had already one PHP/MYSQL version

Go to the admin panel and activate ssh access in your simple hosting

Connect to your ssh and navigate to the htdocs of the vhost you want to auto deploy

cd /srv/data/web/vhosts/[replace with your vhost]/htdocs

Remove all existing files, make sure you have a backup if the instance is not new

rm -rf *

Clone your github repository use the dot at the end of the line, to make sure the repository gets cloned without making a subdirectory

git clone https://github.com/[username]/[repositoryname].git .

Check that the files are there

ls -la

Make a php file with the following content, I named it pull.php

nano pull.php

paste the following code in there

<?php
`git pull`; // This will execute the `git pull` command on your instanceheader
("Cache-Control: max-age=1"); // Lower the cache while we're here so the changes take effect faster
echo "hello!"; // So you can confirm the file is in the right place by browsing to the URL
?>

Make the php file executable

chmod +x pull.php

Check if the file works by browsing to its URL, [domain]/pull.php

Go to the settings of your github repository and select webhooks and services

Create a new webhook, where you paste the url of the pull.php, leave all other settings at default

Do an update to check if it works

DISCLAIMER: For me it all works very well, but don’t change any of the files on the simple hosting without using git or you will have to restart the procedure.

At the moment I’m setting up a backup system in Arch Linux and minimise the risk of sd-card corruption, I’m going to run the OS from a usb stick (you can also use an usb drive if you want). I’m using this guide as a basis. It’s meant for Raspbian, but I adapted the procedure below to Arch linux.

In the guide above we are going to follow the extended procedure. Because that way we are sure that every time we boot we have the correct stick.

The drive we want in my case the sda drive. Make note we are going to need that drive name.

Let us first install gdisk

sudo pacman -S gdisk

once that finishes, we are going to use gdisk on the usb stick.

sudo gdisk /dev/sda

Enter d to delete partion(s).

Enter n to create a new primary partition (number 1) and use the full capacity by hitting return a few times until done
note: if you want more partitions use +xxxM to create a different size and repeat n till there is no space left or you have your number of partitions

I while ago I discovered the chinese website Banggood, which has almost everything you want at low prices. Which is very good for my new arduino hobby.

So next to some other components I ordered the ATmega328P Arduino Compatible Nano V3 5-pack which means I got 5 Arduino nano clones for 15 euro + free shipping, which is just a steal. I have to be honest I was a bit scared to order them, because of all the mixed reviews on the net. On the other hand the max I would loose is 15 euro.

I knew however before ordering that the USB chipset was probably going to require some extra attention.

So once I received the order yesterday, I immediately tried the solutions offered in the comments on Banggood, but I did not manage to get it working. So I turned to google for the rescue. There were several other solutions, but none worked as it should. However the one that got it all working for me was the tutorial of kiguino.

I’m saying nothing new here, but just because it took me some time on google, I’m reblogging it here, for future reference and maybe help somebody else.